Music!

I love music—music reaches my soul and can alter my mood on a dime.

I saw a YouTube video a few days ago that talked about how each generation tends to dismiss (or think lesser of) music in subsequent generations. The reason given was that the music of our teens, twenties, and thirties gets connected to our memories and emotions, and we literally heard that music in a way that we can’t as we get older. However, Gen Z, while listening to current sounds, have been accessing the older tunes and developing a love for classic era rock among other genres. The video implied that’s new but that’s not quite true. Even when I was young, growing up in late seventies and early eighties, with new wave, punk, synth, heavy metal overtaking the 60s sounds, the older music still got a lot of air play on the radio (classic rock stations!). So I grew up listening to a whole bunch of new styles of rock plus 60s rock and pop and folk-rock. And I enjoyed all of it.

The video mostly made sense to me though it’s not the way it has worked with me. My music library continues to evolve (which is why it appears to be all over the map). What is true is that “new” music that I have acquired in later years has been older music (but is new to me). The music I listened to back in the day is not the music I gravitate to today. My mind is not closed to new music, but I don’t connect much with the heavily produced modern sounds. There’s a way in which does not feel/hit me as authentic.

YouTube, as it does, dropped a related video in my stream, but this time it was Andiroo Reacts, a Gen Z metal-head (a term from my youth!) listening to older music that’s new to him (and then giving his reaction/take). Andiroo has a production background and plays the piano so he gives technical commentary as well. I love his videos!

First, I’m connecting to music by bands I listened to but not the particular song he’s looking at, or to bands I was aware of but never listened to, or bands that I followed sometime during my life (but maybe not at the moment). I’m also learning why the music is interesting because of his technical takes. He likes modern music as well, but as he’s noted, it’s heavily produced and often is geared towards going for viral moments and is gimmicky in some way as the creators are often trying to create no more than a brief moment that gains traction. Lyrics used to be deeper and meaningful even in pop, with heavy uses of symbolism and metaphor; much of the music was about relationships, the passion, the sadness, the joy, and the heartache and loss, and such themes are timeless.

He had a video on Bread, and the song If, and I was aware of the song but had not listened to it in decades and by the end of it I was in tears; a sad, beautiful song and I appreciated the moment. There was a Foreigner video / Urgent with a guy wailing on a sax and it was amazing— first time I ever connected to the song. Fantastic.

Musicians back in the day spent tons of hours in their garage, or living room, or in some clubs/venues, or when they got good enough/resources in sound studious and they also were out in the world living messy lives. Many of them learned how to play organically, listening to the greats, playing with others, experimenting on their own— no computers. There was some production back then, but it enhanced what was there— it didn’t actually create it.

In the prime of my youth, bands such as Pink Floyd (timeless), Peter Gabriel and Alan Parsons topped my list. I still love these groups but I rarely listen to them these days though about a year ago I was heavy into Alan Parsons again. What I listen to tends to change.

When I was 25, I met a friend who obsessed over ELO and so for a time I was into that band— I still listen to ELO, they are a sophisticated band who knows how to rock. My friend died of a rare disease at 35. Listening to ELO connects me to my friend.

As I got older, I added groups like Fleetwood Mac, Abba, Beatles, Blondie, Supertramp, Jefferson Airplane, Billy Joel, and Moody Blues (and many others). For the most part, I left these behind (though never completely) and in my twenties I fixated on Crosby Stills and Nash, David Bowie, Queen, and REM while still keeping up with Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel. In my thirties and forties, I picked up Alanis Morissette, Collective Soul, Men Without Hats and Moby. In my fifties, I discovered the Grateful Dead (I knew about the band, but I never connected to their music—and then I did).

My music tastes have continued to evolve. Five years ago, I got into Mamas & Papas, a 60s band. A couple of years ago, I became enthralled with Talking Heads, Imagine Dragons and B-52s while mixing in Collective Soul, Record Company, Barnes Courtney & REM (again). Within the last year, REM & Alan Parsons have fallen off but ZZ Top has zoomed in, and bands like Lord Huron and AC/DC are in the mix. Within the last week, I started listening to the Monkeys (first time) and I’m reconnecting to the Beatles as a result (though this will be momentary, I’m enjoying the reconnecting—so this is in line with Youtube video—I like the emotional reconnection but my tastes have changed over time).

Sometime soon after COVID, I got into Eurythmics / Annie Lennox— this band came on line during the peak of my youth. I listened to Sweet Dreams, Here Comes the Rain Again— I liked the songs and the robotic synth vocals and sound didn’t keep my interest. So I lost track of the band. Then I came across Little Bird on YouTube and I discovered just how amazing Annie Lennox is/was for the first time. I continue to listen to her music.

There has been an amazing accumulation of music over the decades and it’s too much to list even the bands.

I think the older music is more creative— the musicians had to be more creative (it was an analogue world, baby!). But I think a deeper reason is that they had to work harder, they spent less time wanting to produce a viral byte of music and more time understanding what music meant to them. And, they tended to have messy lives— they lived in the world and so often it wasn’t pretty but it made for good music (never confuse the internet with being in the world).

So this is most of all an appreciation to music and to Andiroo Reacts for reconnecting me to bands/songs from decades past.

Thank you!